"The men and women of the Iowa State Patrol are committed to keeping Iowa roadways safe and will aggressively enforce this law in an attempt to positively impact driver behavior," said Maj. Randy Kunert, who heads the patrol's field operations, in a memo sent to State Patrol Col. Jeff Ritzman.

The new law, which took effect July 1, allows law officers to issue a citation if they simply observe a motorist texting while driving, even if there is no other violation. Under previous law, motorists could be ticketed for texting only if they committed another traffic offense, such as speeding or running a red light.

The new law also prohibits motorists from web browsing and playing electronic games. But you can use global positioning systems for navigation.

State Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said enforcement efforts send a strong message that texting while driving is jeopardizing traffic safety and isn't acceptable.

"You know, the word gets out and people will say, 'Hey, I got a ticket for texting while driving,' and that is going to reverberate with folks," Kapucian said.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, text messaging while driving creates a crash risk 23 times higher than driving while not distracted. The Governors Highway Safety Association says 47 states ban text messaging by all drivers and 15 states prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cellphones.

But the tougher enforcement in Iowa isn't as easy as citing a motorist for speeding or running a red light.

Kunert said in his memo that State Patrol districts have been conducting special enforcement projects utilizing a variety of unmarked vehicles, including recreational vehicles, pickup trucks and unmarked squad cars, to enhance their efforts. Some enforcement efforts have been done independently and some in cooperation with other state, city and county law enforcement agencies.

"The districts reported success in finding some violations, but indicated it is still a hard violation to detect. It is very personnel intensive and often only one or two traffic stops were made per hour," Kunert said. "Enforcement of this law will certainly require different enforcement strategies, more resources and projects will not yield the high enforcement numbers that we usually see from special projects."

One of the State Patrol's new strategies has been to catch texting motorists in the act by dressing up as construction workers on highways or stationing plain-clothed troopers in recreational vehicles. Troopers have also worked with Department of Natural Resource officers in DNR trucks who look for texting drivers and report them to state troopers.

The Des Moines Police Department reports similar difficulties in enforcing the new law with just one citation issued the first 30 days the law was in effect, said Sgt. Paul Parizek, a Des Moines police spokesman.

"The crux of it is that if they don't essentially admit in conversation that is what they are doing, it is very difficult to prove the crime," Parizek said.

For now, Des Moines officers are primarily seeking voluntary compliance with the law, he added.

But Patrick Hoye, chief of the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau, said the combination of the tougher law and aggressive enforcement by the State Patrol is a positive trend. Those trends are particularly helpful, he said, as Iowa responds to a sharp increase in traffic fatalities in 2016, which saw 404 persons killed compared with 320 traffic deaths in 2015.

"We realized we had to do something and we think this is having an impact," Hoye said.

As of Thursday, Iowa has had 209 people die on the state's roads this year, which was down 17 percent compared with the same eight-month period a year ago. Sixty-seven people have been killed on Iowa's roads since the new law took effect July 1, compared with 76 for all of July and August last year.

Former Gov. Terry Branstad, who left in May to become U.S. ambassador to China, launched a push for a tougher anti-texting law at the start of this year's session of the Iowa Legislature. However, Branstad had supported even stronger legislation that would have allowed mobile phone use by motorists only if they have hands-free electronic devices. The bill that eventually was signed by Branstad was a compromise to address distracted driving.

Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Transportation Committee, said lawmakers have recognized that the new law must be coupled with driver education and role modeling by parents and other adults.

"This will take a little time. But I think that people are becoming aware that texting while driving is dangerous and no different than driving under the influence of alcohol because it is putting other people at risk," Bowman said.

Under the new law, the fine for texting while driving remains at $30, but court costs and surcharges are estimated at $70.50 per violation, making the total cost $100.50 per ticket, according to the Legislative Services Agency.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the NAACP of Iowa-Nebraska opposed the anti-texting bill when it was debated by Iowa lawmakers. Daniel Zeno, ACLU-Iowa's policy counsel, warned legislators the change would worsen issues of racial disparity in Iowa's criminal justice system. He said Thursday his organization is still concerned about the potential for racial profiling of minorities.

Motorists should also be aware they still have Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches and seizures under the new statute, Zeno said.

"Nothing under this law allows an officer to confiscate a phone. So an officer can't say, 'Oh, I thought you were texting and driving. Let me see the phone,'" Zeno said.

A driver can voluntarily surrender a phone to a law enforcement officer, but if an officer insists that you turn over your phone you can insist that the officer obtain a search warrant, Zeno said.

Law enforcement officials agree there are constitutional issues that affect their ability to write tickets under the new. They say that implementation of a hands-free law would make enforcement easier because someone could be ticketed simply for holding a mobile phone to his or her ear.

Under federal regulations already in place, drivers of commercial vehicles who use a mobile phone while driving can use only a hands-free device located in close proximity. Penalties can be up to $2,750 for drivers and up to $11,000 for employers who allow or require drivers to use a hand-held communications device while driving.